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King James Bible - New Testament The Gospel According to Matthew
The gospels are accounts of the life of Jesus.
The genealogy of Jesus follows the line of Abraham to Joseph, the man who married Mary, Jesus' mother. Fourteen generations separated Abraham from David and fourteen generations separated David from Joseph. Mary, engaged to Joseph, was made pregnant by the Holy Spirit. She was told that she would bear a son called Emmanuel. Joseph was going to leave her but an angel came to him and told him to take her as his wife.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in the days of King Herod. The king heard that a king of the Jews was to be born in Judea. He told wise men to follow the north star. They found the child and gave him frankincense, gold and myrrh. In a dream,God told them to hide from Herod. He also warned Joseph to keep the child from the King. Herod slew all the children in Bethlehem. When Herod died, God told Joseph to go to Israel but, fearing Herod's son, Joseph settled the family in Nazareth.
Topic Tracking: Faith 1
Topic Tracking: Gender 1
At this time, John the Baptist was practicing in Judea. He had simple tastes and clothing. He asked the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees and Sadducees, to repent from their evil ways. Jesus came to him to be baptized but John said that he should be baptized by him instead. Jesus refused. When John had baptized him, a voice came from heaven: "This is my son in whom I am well pleased" Matthew, 3:17.
Jesus went into the desert to be tempted for forty days. The tempter asked him to make stones into bread; he placed him on a precipice and told him to jump off and have God save him. Jesus told the devil to leave.
John was put into prison. Jesus preached for the repentance of the people. He stood before the multitudes, alleging that the weak and humble were more holy to God than others. He promised them that they would inherit the earth. The righteousness of the people must exceed that of the Pharisees. Jesus affirmed the Commandments. He gave them much advice: a man who looks after a woman with lust sins in his heart; if the right hand offends cut it off; a man should turn the other cheek when hit. He continued, telling them that they should love their neighbors and their enemy, pray in private and use the Lord's Prayer. A man could not serve two masters: God and money. Also, man should not worry about having physical things. The lilies are beautiful because God wills them to be so.
Jesus continued, saying that men should not judge, so that they will not be judged. They were to do to others as they would desire be done unto them. A house founded upon a rock does not fall; one built upon sand does. Likewise, a man founded on God will be strong.
When Jesus stopped speaking, he healed lepers and a crippled servant of a centurion. He healed the mother of Peter, one of the twelve disciples.
Jesus went onto a ship on a lake and a great tempest arose. His disciples were afraid; he asked them why they had so little faith and then calmed the storm. On land he cleansed a city possessed by devils. Back in his own city he healed a cripple and asked a scribe why he blasphemed.
Jesus sat to eat with sinners and the Pharisees asked him why he would do such a thing. He responded that the healthy have no need of a physician. He healed another sick woman and brought one back to life. He made blind men see. He also gave his twelve disciples Simon (Peter), Andrew,James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James, son of Alphaeus, Simon the Canaanite, Judas, Lebbeus the power to heal. He sent them out in order to minister to the sick, calling them sheep in the midst of wolves. He warned them that there would be trouble because he had come to cause conflict.
Topic Tracking: Faith 2
Topic Tracking: Miracles 2
The disciples picked grain on the Sabbath. The Pharisees criticized Jesus for this. Jesus retorted that the priests had already profaned the holy day. He entered the synagogue and declared that it was holy to heal on the Sabbath. Some of the Pharisees decided to destroy Jesus but he knew their thoughts. He told them that they could still be forgiven. Some of the scribes asked for a sign. Jesus said that this was unholy like Jonas.
Jesus sat by the sea and many gathered around him. He explained that when someone sows seed only the seed that falls in good ground bears fruit. God is the good ground. The Kingdom of God is like a field sowed with bad seeds in the night. The weeds and grains grow together. The Kingdom of heaven is like the mustard seed: it begins as the smallest seed but ends up being the greatest plant. A farmer weeds out the bad plants; a fisherman throws out the bad fish.
Jesus enters the synagogue but no one believes his words. Because of this, Jesus performs fewer miracles. Herod had put John the Baptist in jail because he chastised the king. John was beheaded. Jesus was upset and ministered to many in his honor. A great number of people gathered around him. There were only five loaves of bread and two fish to feed everyone. Jesus broke them, blessed them and put them into baskets. There was not only enough food for everyone but there were baskets of food left over.
Jesus and the disciples again went out to sea. Jesus walked out onto the water and asked Peter to walk out with him. Peter stepped out, but did not truly believe and began to sink into the water.
The Pharisees asked why the disciples did not wash their hands. Jesus responded by telling them that they did not follow the most important commandments. To eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man. After this, Jesus healed a gentile. Before he did this, he told the woman that he was not to give the bread of the children of God to the dogs. The woman responded that "the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from the master's table" Matthew, 15:27. He fed another multitude with seven loaves of bread.
The Pharisees again asked for a sign from Jesus and he mentioned the baskets of food. He told them that he would build a church on a rock and give Simon (Peter) the key.
He foretold his own death and resurrection to the disciples but Peter did not want to face this. Jesus took Peter, James and John to a mountain and appeared to them talking to Moses and Elias. They were afraid but he told them not to be.
A man asked Jesus to heal his crazy son. Others asked him who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and Jesus said a humble child. He told them that a man who loses one of a hundred sheep will rejoice more in the one he regains than the other ninety-nine he possesses. He told them that whenever two or three are gathered in his name, God is present. When asked, Jesus told Peter that he should forgive his brother "not...until seven times but until seventy times seven" Matthew 18:22. God relates to people in this way: A master forgives his servant a large debt, but that servant throws a fellow servant in debtor's prison for a much smaller debt. The master becomes indignant with the first servant.
Jesus said that a husband and his wife should be divorced only for fornication. When asked what men should do to be good, Jesus said that they should keep the commandments. To be holy, one should sell all possessions and follow God. God is like a man who hires people to work in a vineyard all day at different hours but pays them all the same wage regardless of when they start.
Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on a donkey and people fawned on him and called him king. He entered the Temple and cast out the moneychangers and merchants. He healed many men there and told a parable. A man asked two sons to go into his vineyard. One went and one didn't. The lowly men and harlots who believe in God go to heaven before the children of Israel. The Pharisees tested Jesus again. They asked him if it was right to give tribute to Caesar. He responded:
"Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him the money. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They saith unto him Caesar's. Then saith he unto them. Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." Matthew, 22: 19-21
Jesus said that there is no marriage in heaven and that the greatest commandment is to love God. The second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Jesus told them that all man are equal and the Pharisees were abasing themselves before God. He warned everyone of the blindness of the Pharisees. He warned that the Temple would fall and the world would pass but his words would remain forever.
Jesus told the disciples that he would be crucified two days after the Passover feast. Judas went secretly to a council of priests conspiring against Jesus. He asked how much they would pay for the deliverance of Jesus. They told him thirty pieces of silver. At the dinner, Jesus announced to the disciples that one among them would betray him. Judas admitted it and departed. Jesus broke bread and said it would represent his body. He shared wine, saying that it would be his blood. After the meal they depart to a mountain and Jesus told Peter that he would deny him three times before the sun rose.
Jesus became sorrowful as his disciples went to sleep. He asked God if this burden would be taken from him. Judas led the priests to Jesus as they slept. The council sought people to testify against Jesus. Peter denied that he knew him three times. Judas committed suicide. Jesus stood before the governor Pilate for judgment. He neither confirms nor denies that he is the King of the Jews. At his feast Pilate offered the people the pardon of one of the prisoners: either the criminal Barabbas or Jesus. The people chose Barabbas and Jesus was sent to be crucified.
"And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying Hail King of the Jews!" Matthew, 27: 28-9
Jesus could not bear the weight of his cross, so a man helped him. He was crucified and hung for many hours. After he died, a wealthy man who had become a follower secured his body and had it put in a tomb. It was guarded for three days. On the third, an earthquake rolled the stone back and Jesus was gone. An angel told Mary Magdalene where to find him. Jesus rose and met with his disciples. He told them to meet him in Galilee and then to go out and minister to the world.
